Device for obtaining spinnable fibers from fiber-containing strips of bark



March 1941- K. FRKSCHE 2,234,113 DEVICE FOR OBTAINING SPINNABLE FIBERS FROM FIBERCONTAINING STRIPS OF BARK Filed June 30, 1939 '2 Sheets-Sheet 1 In venlo5 Attorneys.

March 4, 1941. FRiscHE I 2,234,113

DEVICE FOR OBTAINING SPINNABLE FIBERS FROM FIBER-CONTAINING STRIPS OF BARK A Fild June so, 1939 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Has. 176.6. F f l I g I k 19 lnvehzor Patented Mar. 4, 1941 UNITED STATES DEVICE FOR OBTAINING SPINNABLE FIBERS FROM FIBER-CONTAINING STRIPS OF BARK Kurt Frische, Bensheim, Germany Application June 30, 1939, Serial No. 282,305 In Germany January 26, 1939 1 Claim.

The invention relates to'a device for obtaining spinnable fibers from fiber-containing strips of bark freed from the woody parts, more particularly from ramie bark. I

For obtaining spinnable fibers, the fiber-containing strip of bark must first be freed from the stem, 1. e. from the woody part of the stem. Inthe bark strip obtained after removing the wood, the fibers still stick together, held by gum and parts of the bark. This strip, in which the fibers are held together, now requires dissociating into individual fibers which at the same time have to be freed from the gum and parts of bark. The device according to the invention serves for carrying out this dissociation of the strip into individual fibers, a plurality of pairs of rollers being arranged in succession in the conveying direction of the bark strips, the upper or the lower rollers, in addition to their rotation,

also performing a to and fro motion in axial direction, and being provided with a soft covering consisting, for example, of rubber.

According to the invention, the device is arranged so that the rollers of two successive pairs of rollers have opposite axial motions. The bark strips passing through such a set of rollers are effectively rolled by the to and fro motion of the rollers which causes the gum and the bark parts to be loosened and to fall out of the fiber strips. At the same time, this separates the individual fibers. The opposite motion of the successive rollers not only rolls the fiber strips, but also twists them effectively in opposite directions. By this twisting, the fibers are shifted with respect to each other, which separates the individual fibers still more effectively.

The details of the new device as well as its mode of operation will be apparent from the following description in connection with the ac- 4 companying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front view of a device according to the invention,

Fig. 2 is a top view of the device,

Fig. 3 is a view of the driving elements on an enlarged scale, and

Figs. 4 to 6 show a cord of bark strips, being rolled by a device according to the invention, in three different stages of rolling.

In the drawings, l is amachine frame, 2 and 3 are shafts supported by the machine frame, 4 and 5 arerollers carried by the shafts 2 and 3. 6 and 6a are soft coverings on these rollers, for example made of rubber, I is a driving shaft with pinion 8 and belt pulley 9. l0 and II are vplnions on the shafts 2 and 3. i2 is a shaft driven from the driving shaft 1 or by separate driving means, one eccentric being arranged on the driving shaft 1 for each shaft 2 and 3 of the entire set of rollers (-i and 5, 4a and 5a, 4b and 511, etc.). Two such eccentrics are indicated in Fig. 1. Corresponding eccentric rods l5, liare provided, by which the eccentric motion is transferred to the shafts 2 and 3, causing opposite motions of the rollers 4 and 5, once in the directions of the arrows A, B, and then in the direc- 1o tions of the arrows C, D. At the same time, the

rollers rotate in the directions of the arrows In the constructional example, according to the invention, shown in the drawings, the arrangement is made so that the rollers of two successive pairs of rollers perform axial motions in opposite directions, and if, according to Fig. 2, the roller 4 is movedin the direction G, the roller 4a. is simultaneously moved in the opposite direction H. The following roller lb is at the same time moved in the direction G. The motion of the lower rollers 5, 5a, 5b, etc., in the constructural example shown' in the drawings, is always opposite to that of the upper rollers.

This opposite motion causes the bark or fiber strip to be twisted, as shown in Figs. 4 to 6. Only the lower rollers 5, 5a, etc. are shown in these illustrations, it being assumed that the rollers in Fig. 4 are at the left or right ends of their motions. When the rollers are moved into their central positions (roller 5e being shifted in the direction H, roller 5d in the direction G, etc.). the loosened fiber is obtained, as shown in Fig. 5. The fiber strip is alternately twisted as in Fig. 4, the twisting being removed as in 'Fig. 5, which operations produce a very much loosened broad fiber strip at the points l1 between the rollers. Owing to this loosening, the bark and gum particles separated by the twisting can fall out of the fiber strip. At the points 20, where the fiber strip is held by the rollers, the strip has a smaller diameter than at H. When the rollers move beyond their central positionstowards the other ends of their motions, the fiber strip is given the twisted shape shown in Fig. 6. On comparing Figs. 4 and 6, it will be seen that the fiber strip is rolled from one side to the other so that, for example, point l8 of the fiber strip, according to Fig, '4, is moved to the right to point l9, according to Fig. 6.

Though, in the constructional example illustrated, both the upper and the lower rollers have to and fro motions in axial direction,.the construction may be of a simpler form in which either only the upper rollers 4 or only the lower rollers 5 of the set of rollers perform a to and fro motion, whereas the other rollers merely rotate. v

The device is intended for working bark strips coming from a wood separating machine, by which the woody parts have already been separated. In case this separation could not be 'eflected completely, a wood separating device,

for example as indicated at 2|, in the form of a set of pressing or fluted rollers, may be arranged.

What I claim is:

A device for obtaining spinnable fibers from her-containing strips of bark, comprising a frame, means on said frame for separating the woody parts from said bark, a plurality of horizontal rollers moimted on said frame and arranged in pairs one above the other, means for rotating the rollers in each pair in opposite directiona, whereby the strips of bark are progressively fed between said rollers, a horizontal rotatable shaft mounted on said frame adjacent one end of said rollers and extending transversely of the latter in a plane midway the horizontal axial planes of said rollers, a plurality of pairs 01' cams arranged longitudinally along said shaft one for each pair of rollers, and a pair of rods connecting-the cams of each pair with the related rollers for reciprocating the latter, whereby the strips of bark are twisted laterally in opposite directions while'being fed longitudinally, the cams of each pair occupying opposed angular positions and the rods of each pair being connected with the related rollers at the front and rear thereof.

KURT FRISCHE. 

